Forums > Contributor Zone > Review of the Week Feb 4 - 10: Panic on the Streets of Washington

The skies dumped snow upon my region. While many people who haven't lived in Eastern Washington very long panic, those of us long-time natives or lifers like myself view this as business as usual. Nonetheless, it's hazardous out there, so any WA readers (or any other places buried in flakes), please be safe.

Six reviews greet me this week, which is pretty light. I wanted to get this done Monday night, but I allowed myself to be distracted by a bad game. Shame on me!


CptRetroBlue reviewed three games this week. Alien Hominid sports a lot of good information, but would benefit from a copy edit. Its intro sentence runs a bit long, there are a few strangely phrased sentences, in addition to a few other tiny errors. Animaniacs: The Great Edgar Hunt is a much better article that reads smoothly and offers some terrific information. I've never heard of the game, but you describe it well enough to tell readers what to expect. (continue onward for the Shinobi III review).

Mariner took on Shantae and the Pirate's Curse, from a franchise that I've been wanting to check out. Hey, I bought the original Shantae on 3DS, so hopefully I can dive into it soon. This is a good review that fills everyone in on how the franchise works, and why Pirate's Curse stands apart from the rest of it. I'm glad you addressed the fact that this isn't a true Metroidvania (Steam users really need to learn how to use that sub-genre tag properly), and went on to detail the game's design and flow effectively.



CptrRetroBlue's Shinobi III takes third place , and is, I think, one of your best reviews here. It definitely shows your passion for the game, and has some awesome phrasing and descriptions. Maybe there are some places that should be tightened up, but nonetheless this is a great review.

EmP got second place for his tagline take on 1954 Alcatraz. Fun fact: I own this game and tried to play it, but a glitch prevented me from getting past the first scene. I haven't really touched it since, and probably won't. You effortless dispatch this game by reminding us that adventure titles need to walk a fine line between good puzzles and good story, and tell us that this one refuses to do so. I mean, who wants to play a game where the protagonists are a one-dimensional female lead and a horrible person? Sure, people like villains these days, but they like well written villains, and it sounds like Joe is nothing but a douchey criminal. Meh, spare me your simplistic goons, and give me the Lokis and Kefkas and Tommaso Ciampas of the world. This is an awesome review that doesn't really have any issues, and that's all I've got to say.

Overdrive wins with Avadon 3: The Warborn. I was worried going into this review that I wouldn't know a damn thing about the series, and I'd be lost. However, you wrote a wonderful recap that actually had me wanting to fire up the originals (I think I have a least the first Avadon in my library). This is a greatly detailed review that sold me on the third installment. It flows in a natural way and doesn't merely come off as a list of features and functions, while clearly exuding your opinion. You talk about a few story elements in such a way that this almost feels like a trailer in addition to a review. Not that I'm trying to accuse you of advertising the game, but you do a damn fine job convincing me that I should probably make the Avadon series more of a priority.


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I'm done.

The only thing my milkshake brings to the yard is a subpoena.

Woo-Hoo!!! Thanks for the kind words and high placement! Yeah, Spiderweb is turning into one of my favorite game companies, which is no small feat considering it is an indie group. While their western RPGs might not be equal to your Pillars of Eternities and Divinity: Original Sins, for a small group utilizing fairly primitive graphics and those stock sound effects you were mentioning in your Geneforge review, they really make the most of what they have available to them. If anything, I feel I currently have an abundance of riches as far as my Steam collection of Western RPGs go. I'm playing the first Witcher now and then have Avernum 2 and 3 and also the first Divinity and Icewind Dale and it is TOUGH deciding which one gets played next!

And yeah, the snow has sucked at times. In Ohio, I was driving home from visiting my mom and when I got back, I told her that I probably should have left a couple hours earlier. It'd been snowing most of the afternoon and the roads were covering for the entire drive. Usually takes about 50 minutes to get home, but it took 75 that day. 75 minutes of white-knuckling the steering wheel and being completely focused on controlling my car. Not fun.

I'm not afraid to die because I am invincible
Viva la muerte, that's my goddamn principle

Congrats to OD for another win! And to Emp for more Site King points for the silver. You two are running away with this thing. Good to see the Captain snag a place (his first?) as well.

I don't have to prove I'm refined - that's what makes me refined!